Case Number 21096: Small Claims Court

PIONEERS OF TELEVISION: LOCAL KIDS' TV

The Charge

"In television's first decades, local kids' programs shaped the
childhoods of millions of American youngsters."

The Case

In an age where Nickelodeon, Toon Disney, and PBS Kids rule the airwaves for
the 10 and under set, we've completely lost the once proud artistry of local
kids television. It's sad, really. What was must-see morning and afternoon
programming drawing upon amazing talents and regional idiosyncrasies, has since
given way to fast food for the mind. But the echoes of that long dead art form
lives on in the hearts and minds of those who grew up with it, and PBS'
Pioneers of Television series is keeping that dream alive.

Narrated by Kelsey Grammar (Frasier), this particular installment
tackles kids television from the dawn of the medium in the late 1940s through
its ultimate demise in the early '80s. And while there are some notable
omissions in this pedigree (e.g. Bob Keeshan's Captain Kangaroo, Bill
Jackson's Dirty Dragon and Gigglesnort Hotel) the players and
programs it does cover is done so with all the love and respect they
deserve.

After all, these shows weren't designed to sell toys or sugar-laden
breakfast cereal, they were pure entertainment that wanted nothing more than to
make people laugh, kids and parents alike. There were no educational
requirements, no focus groups examining every minute detail, and no talking down
to the lowest common denominator. These amazing men and women understood that
funny transcends age, background, and intelligence. What entertained them as
performers would certainly do the same for their audience.

And what a lineup of performers they were...

Time for Beanie, Los Angeles, CA (1949-1954) With the imminent
death of the theatrical animated short, Warner Bros. animator/director Bob
Clampett called on two of his favorite voice artists -- Stan Freberg and Daws
Butler -- to dive into the new realm of television. His goal: Take the same
approach used to create the adventures of Bugs Bunny and friends and infuse it
into a puppet stage show that would air live five days a week. What to most was
seemingly impossible task turned into a five year phenomenon drawing praise from
kids, adults, and Albert Einstein (seriously!).

Sam & Friends, Washington DC (1955-1961) Inspired by the
unfiltered hilarity of Freberg and Butler, a young puppeteer by the name of Jim
Henson was assembling his own band of merry men. Cutting his television teeth at
age 16 working for Willard Scott on Farmer Willard, Jim -- alongside his
then girlfriend Jane and longtime collaborator Jerry Juhl -- took the art form
to an entirely new level. He was the first to use soft materials to create his
characters and employed control rods to give their bodies more life. More
importantly, he was the first to use the camera itself as a stage, leveraging
the frame to create movement and depth unlike anything ever before seen. The
show also gave birth to now legendary muppets Kermit and Rowlf, and caught the
attention of Joan Ganz Cooney who recruited Jim's team to help create Sesame
Street, the most successful and innovative national children's series of all
time.

Wallace and Ladmo, Phoenix, AZ (1954-1989) While puppetry was
all the rage, comedians Bill Thompson and Pat McMahon set out to prove that live
sketch shows could draw in just as large an audience, and boy were they right.
Though most people outside of the American Southwest have never heard of Wallace
and Ladmo, they remain generational legends to people of the region. As director
Steven Spielberg says, "They were Second City before Second City," and
they weren't just a one trick pony. A skit called "Hubcap and the
Wheels" spoofing The Beatles was popular it spawned a single that rocketed
to #1 on the Billboard charts and almost cancelled the show in favor of turning
the team into real rock 'n rollers. Thankfully cooler heads prevailed and
franchise thrived for decades, even spawning a chain of fast food
restaurants.

But it wasn't just the obscure performers who cornered this market. There
are more than a few familiar names and faces who populated the genre before
moving onto bigger projects...

Another interesting concept that spun out of this genre was that of
franchising. Two shows in particular forged a path that would take a successful
show from one market and replicate it throughout the country using a highly
controlled business model.

Romper Room (1953-1994) Created by the husband and wife team of
Bert and Nancy Claster, this became the first franchised show for preschoolers
and spawned more than a 100 regional variations, each host handpicked and
trained by Nancy in her Baltimore studio. All of the scripts, songs, and
activities were developed in-house and implemented with precision in each
market, "The Clasters were very very strict on how all the Romper Room
teachers needed to behave. How we dressed, how we talked, how we related to the
children. Everything was based on a formula, and it was a very successful
formula."

Bozo's Circus (1949-2001) Based on a character the predated
television and made his mark as a storytelling record, actor Larry Harmon bought
the rights and turned him into an American institution. Like Romper Room,
more than 100 different Bozo the Clowns graced the air waves, ultimately leaving
its imprint on pop culture in three profound ways. Chicago was the crown jewel
of the franchise, first with Bob Bell and later Joey D'auria, and remains an
iconic figure long after the show ended its 40 year run. In fact, Bob's version
of Bozo had such an impact on native Chicagoan Dan Castellaneta, that he became
the template for The Simpsons's Krusty the Clown. And last but not least,
at the show's peak in Washington DC, Willard Scott (yes, he did get around) did
a Bozo appearance at a local McDonald's which resulted in unbridled pandemonium
and a lucrative relationship between the two continued for many years to follow.
In fact, the impact of this partnership was so great that when the show was
cancelled, McDonald's CEO Ray Kroc hired Willard Scott to help create a new
clown character to serve as the mascot for the restaurant...and thus Ronald
McDonald was born.

There are many more shows and performers touched on in this 55-minute
documentary, and suffice it to say this genre changed the face of television.
Not only were the shows educating and entertaining kids, they opened a pandora's
box to innovative advertising execs who used this captive audience as a powerful
market segment. This darker side of children's TV lead advocate Peggy Charon
created "ACTION for Children's Television" to prohibit selling
products to kids, and inspired actor Bill Cosby to earn a PhD in education and
create Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids to use the medium for what it did
best. Nobody believed the show would work, and yet it became a landmark
cornerstone in animated television history.

Ultimately, in the late 1970s, with changes in the financial structure of
the industry, the shows became less profitable for local stations and the genre
began to die out. But not before the impact these artists and their series had
on the culture of America left an indelible mark on us all.

Presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen with standard Dolby 2.0 stereo,
the documentary offers up a wide range of clips in varying degrees of quality.
It's unfortunate we didn't have the foresight to capture more of these programs
when they aired, but no one at the time thought what they were doing would
affect us 50 and 60 years later. Sadly, there are no bonus materials, so you'll
have to scour YouTube and other video resources -- like the Museum of Broadcast
Communications or the Paley Center for the Media -- to satiate your
curiosity.